Elias Koteas to star in third season of The Killing

ACCLAIMED character actor Elias Koteas is to become a series regular in The Killing.

The actor will play a character called Ed Skinner, the former partner of Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, he is a “well-regarded and well-respected” cop… so much so that “prosecutors relax when they see his name on the docket because they can trust his work”.

The casting of Koteas underlines the regard with which the series is held in acting circles and also sends a clear signal that the creators are intending to make the revived show as enticing as possible for viewers.

The Killing had been cancelled by AMC after losing figures during its sophomore run, only to be revived following a dramatic U-turn.

Showrunner Veena Sud and her writing team have subsequently been back in the writers room penning scripts for weeks.

Koteas – whose cinema work includes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Thin Red Line, Shutter Island and Let Me In (pictured) – joins original stars Enos and Joel Kinnaman return for the third run but several cast members will not be returning, including Billy Campbell and Michelle Forbes.

The 12-episode third season will reportedly centre on a new case and be set a year after the Larsen case.

Linden will no longer be a detective but will be drawn back when Holder’s search for a runaway girl leads him to a string of murders that connects to a previous investigation she led.